In spite of numerous advances in medical research, cancer remains a major cause of death worldwide. There is a tremendous need for rapid and simple methods for the early diagnosis of cancer to facilitate appropriate remedial action by surgical resection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or other known treatment methods. The availability of good diagnostic methods for cancer is also important to assess patient responses to treatment, or to assess recurrence due to re-growth at the original site or metastases.
The characterization of cancer biomarkers including, for example, oncogene products, growth factors and growth factor receptors, angiogenic factors, proteases, adhesion factors and tumor suppressor gene products, etc., can provide important information concerning the risk, presence, status or future behavior of cancer in a human or non-human mammalian subject. Determining the presence or level of expression or activity of one or more cancer biomarkers can assist the differential diagnosis of patients with uncertain clinical abnormalities, for example, by distinguishing malignant from benign abnormalities. In patients presenting with established malignancy, cancer biomarkers can be useful to predict the risk of future relapse, or the likelihood of response in a particular patient to a selected therapeutic course. Even more specific information can be obtained by analyzing highly specific cancer biomarkers, or combinations of biomarkers, which may predict responsiveness of a patient to specific drugs or treatment options. Furthermore, cancer biomarkers can be used as targets for developing new and useful therapeutics.
Accordingly, a great need exists for specific and sensitive biomarkers that can predict the biological behavior of cancer cells, as well as improved methods to specifically detect, characterize, and monitor the specific types and progression of cancer.